It could be tougher in the next gubernatorial race for outside groups to influence voters without triggering matching funds for their candidate’s publicly funded opponents under a proposed rule change being considered next week by the state’s ethics and elections commission.
The proposed change also runs the risk of making gubernatorial races more expensive in Maine if matching funds are triggered earlier in the process – a change the Green Party and independent candidates in the last election say is only fair to even the playing field.
At issue is current law under the Clean Elections Act, which allowed the national Republican and Democratic Governors Associations to make ads on behalf of their party’s candidates – Republican Sen. Chandler Woodcock and Democratic Gov. John Baldacci – up until 21 days before the election without triggering matching funds.
The losers in that process were Green Party candidate Pat LaMarche, and independent Rep. Barbara Merrill, who were running as publicly funded candidates, as was Woodcock, but without benefit of national groups running ads on their behalf.
While even members of the Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices agreed that most people watching TV believed the ads were being run on Woodcock’s or Baldacci’s behalf, their hands were tied during the election because of the way the law is written.
It says that ads made prior to the 21-day window have to expressly advocate the election or defeat of a candidate, by using such words as “vote for” or “defeat” in the ad. The rules gets tougher within that 21-day window, and ads trigger matching funds if they merely name or depict a clearly identified candidate.
The proposed rule change would expand that 21-day period to 60 days before an election, which could increase the cost to taxpayers for publicly financed elections.
On the other hand, “it would make the matching funds system that was enacted by Maine voters more rationale and would provide greater disclosure of amounts paid to influence elections,” according to Jonathan Wayne, executive director of the ethics commission.
While the rule would affect all Clean Election races, including the 77 percent of candidates who ran for the Legislature on public funds this time around, it was the governor’s race that attracted the lion’s share of outside money early in the campaign.
Commission staff are recommending a number of changes to the law that will be considered at a Dec. 12 meeting in Augusta.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
